In its latest economic brief on the monthly statistics of registered real estate contracts issued by the Ministry of Justice, excluding sales conducted through agents, National Bank of Kuwait reports that real estate sales increased for the third month in a row during November. A total of 744 sales transactions were registered at a value of KD 241.6 million, up by 2% and 11%, respectively, from the month before. NBK noted that growth in the value of sales was led by the residential property sector, in which sales increased by 19%. The rise in the number of units sold in this sector was a more modest 2%. Meanwhile, the value of real estate sales for the apartments and commercial property sector fell by 0.2%.

NBK stated that average real estate sales during the eleven months of 2007, rose by 59% in value and 31% in number compared with the same period last year. Most of the growth in sales can be attributed to the rapid increase in sales of apartments and commercial property, which rose by 76% in value and 43% in number. Meanwhile, average prices for registered transactions during the period rose by 23% for apartments and commercial property, against 14% for residential property.

According to NBK, the value of loans approved by the Savings and Credit Bank (SCB) declined by 13% during November, while the number of approved loans dropped by 1%. SCB approved 347 loans in November versus a monthly average of 396 in 2006. Compared with October, the number of loans approved for the purchase of existing homes rose by 11%, while approved loans for construction of new homes declined by 12%. Though the value of loans disbursed was up by 12% to KD 14.6 million in November, total amounts disbursed thus far in 2007 are down by 14% compared to the same period last year.